"They weren't banned from our special collections, the Free
Beacon was asked to follow a process to fill out a form asking
for permission to publish the audio," Associate Vice Chancellor
for University Relations Laura Jacobs said in a phone
conversation Friday. "It's called a permission to publish form
and our policy is that before material accessed from our
collections are published, we require all library patrons to fill
out a form."

Jacobs disputed a Free Beacon report that claimed the school
issued a "ban" on the website.

"A ban, I think, is an overstatement," said Jacobs. "I think a
suspesnion carries with it that it's a temporary condition."

Jacobs claimed the suspension was the first the library ever gave
to an agency. She also said the Free Beacon was notified of the
library's procedures prior to publishing the story.

"This is not the first time weve asked the Free Beacon to follow
our procedure. We notified them earlier that this is what they
needed to do. They understood," Jacobs said. "Our terms are
standard library policies. This is not weird, it's not a big
deal."

Jacobs said the library would reinstate the Free Beacon's
research privileges if the site temporarily takes down the story
on the Clinton tapes and waits for a permission form to be
processed. The story featured audio of Clinton discussing a
case where she defended a man accused of raping a 12-year-old
girl in 1975. Jacobs also said the library would have no
issue letting the Free Beacon or another conservative outlet use
its facilities.

"We would never make any type of distinction about any type of
researcher. That's the whole point. We're a library, we want
people to come access it. We just expect people to follow our
policies," said Jacobs. "This is not about any feeling about the
way the material is used."

Business Insider reached out to Alana Goodman, the reporter who
wrote the story based on the tapes, to ask whether she had been
notified of the library's procedures. Goodman referred us to Free
Beacon founder Michael Goldfarb, who provided us a letter Kurt
Wimmer, an attorney representing the site, sent to the University
of Arkansas dean of libraries Thursday. In that letter, Wimmer
said the recordings were provided to the site "without any
condition."

Goldfarb also said the Free Beacon would "continue to publish
additional pieces of the audio" and would fight any effort by the
library to "try to enforce this ban."

"I don't really understand the distinction between a suspension
and a ban – they say we aren't allowed in their library,"
Goldfarb said. "We will not take the story down. We will continue
to publish additional pieces of the audio. And if they try to
enforce this ban we will act aggressively to defend our right to
review public records housed in a public institution."